Shortcomings in Stress Management

Handling stress is not one of my best qualities. Somehow I manage to bury my growing frustrations until I explode, which was the case this past weekend. It would seem that my life is not really all that stressful. I have a job (2 for that matter), and even though I’m not rolling in dough, I make enough to get by. I have a fantastic boyfriend, who is my emotional backbone, most of the time. I have a supportive family, and although they drive me slightly nuts, they are a group of genuinely nice people, who are always looking out for me. And I have a great group of friends, who are generally reliable and fun to be around. Now maybe I’m just over sensitive, but it’s the day to day things that make me slightly neurotic.

I’ll back track to this past weekend. I have a building irritation about living down town. Perhaps city living, even in the brief stint I have experienced it, is just not for me. I feel like me living in the city, is like trying to make an elephant live in a tree, it just won’t work, period. This weekend started out a bit rough. It took me 45 minutes to drive from Ruth’s Chris Steak House to my house in Fed Hill, approximately 1.5 miles. I should have walked, but that’s neither here nor there. I have decided that “Operation Orange Cone” as well as the hundreds of pointless traffic cops, are the reason for the cities gridlock. I mean really, construction is a positive thing, but DON’T re-construct all of Baltimore at the same time! I’m not sure if there are other people with frustrations for the traffic cops, but personally they make me want to swerve on purpose just to scare them. I’m fairly certain they aren’t police, so how can they write tickets?! Furthermore, they stand in the middle of busy intersections, telling me when I can go. Excuse me, I can see my car won’t fit, and I don’t need you to tell me I can’t merge, get out of the way, I’m doing it anyhow. Not to mention they all wear those blue tooth cell phone headsets, which in and of itself drives me up a wall!

So, after my 45 minute trek from work, I had an enjoyable night out on the town at an Orioles Game. The evening started well, but went drastically downhill when I was forced to call the police on a couple of coked up, belligerently drunk, obnoxiously trashy women. Not only did they scream at pedestrians, the one woman went as far as to punch a guy who was walking out of the new corner bar. (Irritations about the new bar to come, don’t worry!) So finally Tasha and I decided enough was enough and called the cops. Not a minute after that, the women got in the car and drove, or should I say swerved away…at which point we reported a drunk driver. Who knew, within the Federal Hill community, was a hidden group of drug addicted trailer trash?

The following morning really iced the cake for me. Baltimore City cops are failing to arrest drug dealers, but somehow have time to ticket me for an expired license plate. OK, if the plates had been expired for more than say, 10 HOURS, I might be able to understand. But no, they expired at mid-night, and by 11 a.m. I had a ticket. At this point, I was unable to deal with the stressors of living in the city, so I went to my mom’s house. (My destination for the day anyhow, to get the replacement for my now expired license plate sticker) Unfortunately I had a mild breakdown. I spent the remainder of the weekend, alone, brooding about my frustrations for the city. Not exactly the best way to handle stress.

I decided, after my weekend of pouting, I was going to take steps to make my stress more manageable. I decided to keep a journal, write more on my blog, and exercise. Playing tennis helps, but more than once every two weeks is probably needed. Great, I have a game plan! So with my fresh thoughts in mind, I headed home from work last night ready to take a relaxing shower, get a good night’s rest, and try and learn to love the city, the place I now call home. How about NO! It took me upwards of an hour to find parking last night. I didn’t actually even find it. I illegally parked outside the new bar on the corner. I went in and begged the bar tenders not to have my car towed away. Lucky for me, one was leaving and he said I could take his spot. What a nice thought, however I can’t help but complain about the fact that the employees, as well as customers at the new bar are taking up the parking on my street! It just never ends.

I’m doing my best to be less stressed. Seriously, I have a chronic stress induced rash that has gotten severely worse in the past few months. I really need to get things under control. Perhaps focusing on the little things is the key. Things like, good morning text messages, eating lunch outside, and showers with scented candles… I don’t know, but something has got to give.